Hailing from Belarus, I spent most of my UN career working in Africa, or on issues related to the continent. From 1992-1994, for instance, I was part of the United Nations Observer Mission in South Africa (UNOMSA) that helped facilitate both a democratic dispensation and the presidential election of Nelson Mandela. My other positions—which included [...]

Our Oped in the New York Times last week on Syria raised many questions. In this blog I will continue to address those issues, that could not properly be elaborated in the original piece because of the need for brevity. There are also some issues that have arisen since.

In Libya, early dialogue among key external stakeholders, including the UN, relevant regional organisations and neighbouring countries, and comprehensive consultations involving representatives of the Libyan people would conceivably have led to a joint decision as to the mandate and the course of action to be collectively undertaken. Such a joint and coordinated approach would have been beneficial to the peace process, both from the short- and long-term perspective

Faced with the prospect of renewed full-scale war between the armies of Sudan and South Sudan, both the Africa Union and United Nations have issued strongly worded and well-matched resolutions, indicating a significant degree of international consensus on the way forward.

The Darfur study demonstrates both the importance and the feasibility of event-based data collection in the midst of conflict, while pointing to a number of policy implications – from the utility of JMACs to the challenge of protecting civilians while adhering to peace operations doctrine. Analysts, conflict management practitioners and – most important – the victims of violence will benefit greatly from further work of this sort.